Bird identification is a tricky business. To casual backyard birders—and to new field birders—learning the subtleties of bird identification can be both challenging and rewarding. I frequently receive emails from customers with a request for help with bird identification, and I really enjoy the challenge.
This leads me right into a discussion about our 20th anniversary Birding Challenge. The Birding Challenge contains a list of five-, ten-, twenty-five- and fifty-point challenges. The five point challenge focuses specifically on bird identification.
In conjunction with the challenge, we have compiled a checklist of the most common bird species found in the Prescott area to help individuals keep track of the species they have seen and identified. The species listed in the checklist come directly from the two “Sibley’s Birds of the Arizona Central Highlands” folding guides that we created several years ago.
These beautifully illustrated folding guides include 143 bird species. Volume one focuses on the most common varieties of backyard birds while volume two focuses on the most common varieties of bird species you will encounter out in nature, such as when you are hiking on the Peavine Trail or walking around Willow Lake.
One element of the Birding Challenge that needs to be factored into seeing all 143 species listed in the checklist, is that many of the species are seasonal residents. This means there is a narrow window of time to see some of these species, so it is important to be actively working on your checklist each month.
Some of the species in the checklist will only be here for another month or two. If you don’t see them before they migrate, you might not be able to get them on your list before the contest ends in October.
In my column each month, I will give you suggestions on what species you should focus on finding. For the month of February, I encourage you to see the following waterfowl species: cinnamon teal, northern shoveler, gadwall, American wigeon, northern pintail, green-winged teal, canvasback, redhead, ring-necked duck, lesser scaup, bufflehead, common goldeneye, hooded and common merganser and eared grebe. This sounds like a lot, but I promise that you can get all of these species in probably one visit to Watson and Willow Lake.
This past Saturday, I went with some friends to the Aspen Springs area off of Copper Basin Road, in the Prescott National Forest. We were specifically looking for purple finches. There are three finch species in North America with a predominance of red plumage: house finch, Cassin’s finch, and purple finch.
With time and patience, we eventually succeeded in seeing two male purple finches, and later in the day I saw house and Cassin’s finches. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen all three of these species in the same day before!
Wild bird activity at backyard feeders has been off the charts the last few weeks. Every day we hear, “My birds are eating me out of house and home!” Sources of seed, suet, and Mr. Bird nut cakes are a great way to help wild birds this winter.
Today, Thursday, February 2nd, at 7 p.m., the Natural History Institute Speaker Series is hosting a presentation by Dr. Maurice Crandall titled “After the Whirlwind: Yavapai-Apache Scouts and the World they Made”. Dr. Crandall will share the complicated history surrounding Yavapai and Apache Indians serving as U.S. Army Indian Scouts during the late 1800’s. The presentation will explore the unique contributions they made to Arizona history. This is a free speaker series event, and by attending you can earn ten points in the Birding Challenge!
Until next week, Happy Birding!
Eric Moore is the owner of Jay’s Bird Barn, Arizona Field Optics, and Hallmark in
Prescott, Arizona. Eric has been an avid birder for over 55 years. If you have
questions about wild birds that you would like discussed in future articles, email
him at eric@jaysbirdbarn.com.
