Monday, January 4, 2021
With morning temps still hanging into the high 30sF, I took my time getting out the door for a bit of local birding. At a bit after 9 a.m., it was a cool, comfortable 45° under full morning sun and clear blue sky when I started clicking off birds that were out and about at our city park, Prospector, on North Idaho Road. Two men's softball games were apparently very competitive on the ball diamonds prior to the open playing fields (soccer) where I usually walk.
My first sighting was a female VERMILLION FLYCATCHER (moved too fast for photo) and the male didn't show up in that area while I was present. Two BENDIRE'S THRASHER were at the north end where I start out from the parking lot, and I did manage a decent pic of it.
The CURVE-BILLED THRASHER hid out until much later but was very obvious when it sang on and on from the top of a saguaro.
As usual, GAMBEL'S QUAIL were abundant but not always easy to photograph. I caught three of them (2 males; 1 juvie) running from the desert toward the park near the tennis courts.
In that same area, a small flock of BREWER'S SPARROWS were coming out from under a large bush to scratch some stones to find a "goody" to eat. Third photo below appears to indicate a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW.
Although I attempted to photograph the PHAINOPEPLA with the half-moon still in the sky, the bird was fuzzy but the moon looked great.
Small birds can be discerned fairly well in mesquite tree where the leaves are needles but when they fly into one of the many olive or ironwood trees in the park, the can hide easily behind dense leaves. One small bird flew out from an olive tree to huddle beneath a ramada. I thought at first it might be a juvenile NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD, but the eBird reviewer confirmed it as another BENDIRE'S THRASHER.
While CACTUS WREN are plentiful in the community where I live, it's a bit of a surprise to find them absent from many of the local birding hot spots. So, it was good to finally find one this morning. In the first photo, you can see a nest below the bird but I'm not certain it is its own nest. The second photo shows it carrying nesting material but it would not go to a nest while I was present.
For the 80 minutes I walked the perimeter of the most eastern area within the park, I had enjoyed all the birds I had viewed. As I capped the lens on my camera approaching the parking lot, I stopped quickly! Quietly, I detached the lens cover and started shooting. The female's instinct was to fly for cover in an ironwood; the male continued to forage on the ground,
Just that short amount of time outside, still wearing a mask but never coming in close contact with another human, quickly puts me into my "centeredness".
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S78658213
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