The Big Yard: Birdwatching in a Time of Quarantine

Or: The Evolution of a Pajama Lister

The Vinegaroon.  My favorite arachnid, the acid-spraying devourer of scorpions.

Day 409 of the Pandemic (May 1, 2021)

            At midnight, I leave the house and walk to the creek to check off the owls, collecting the usual leaves and stems, insects and seedheads on my PJs and in my hair (a leaf magnet) for the wife to find in our bed.  A waning gibbous moon rises high in the east, turning the oak woodland to silver and shadow, easy enough to navigate by without a flashlight.  I do carry my blacklight to fluoresce the scorpions.  The UV ignites the cuticle of their exoskeletons to neon-green, as it does the half-moon nails of my naked toes, which, I note, outnumber the joint-legged arachnids only by one.  “You don’t want to come out here,” I told the wife the first time I lit up the rock walls of our home in my bare feet.  “Definitely need more vinegaroons.”

I hear three owls—the yips of elf and steady toots of whiskered screech, and the distant and haunting hoo-hoots of a great horned—and get a bonus Mexican whip-poor-will, which sounds like its namesake.  Not a bad start to my birding Big Day.  My goal for the next twenty-four hours: 50 species.  The yard has been ranked as high as 21 in the country, but now I hope to break into eBird’s top ten yards, at least for a day.

            At 5:20 AM, the nasal CHI-verr notes of Cassin’s kingbirds echo through the gray light.  And then something else—a liquid whip, brrrg!  Brown-crested flycatcher!  While seated and listening to the brightening canyon, I’m suddenly stunned by a red-faced warbler that comes to the fountain to drink.  I haven’t seen the species since last year when one appeared in the yard as if by magic to become the first record for the Mule Mountains.  This is the second record.  The day is looking awesome already.

Cassin’s Kingbirds arrive in the yard with the first heat of May.

The onset of summer means the arrival of the Tyrant Flycatchers, like this Brown-crested and the Ash-throated Flycatcher (below).

A Townsend’s Warbler visits the fountain, one of six warblers for the day, including Black-throated Grays, Yellow-rumps, Wilson’s, and a stunning Red-faced Warbler (below).

At the end of the day, my three checklists total 65 species, including seven hummingbirds, six warblers, and four flycatchers.  My yard, according to eBird, is number 5 in the nation.  Now, if I can only get that elegant trogon on my list for May...or some flyover whimbrels!

Flyovers can happen! Recently, I spotted these “rare and unreported” Whimbrels at the Benson sewage treatment plant 45 miles away. They do have wings!

Thanks for subscribing! More on the way….