The Big Yard: Birdwatching in a Time of Quarantine

Or: The Evolution of a Pajama Lister

Day 473 of the Pandemic (July 4, 2021) 

            Four days of monsoon weather have finally dumped more than two inches of rain on the yard.  I can hear the leafless oaks grown.  A hundred yards from my front door, what I call the North Fork of Banning Creek—where the plunge pools have been dry basins of dead leaves for more than a year—surges with chocolate froth.  It’s a start if not enough to make up for the deficit.  The well tank holds steady 1400 gallons, half its capacity.  No gain yet.  I’ve switched valves to the rainwater tank, which is overflowing.  For now, we drink and shower with rain collected off the galvanized roof. 

            The wife thinks I’m crazy shouting at the sky.  But she knows if Banning Creek doesn’t run, we’ll be trucking in water for the rest of the year.

Yellow-headed Blackbird, this one from nearby Whitewater Draw, because sometimes I’m not quick enough with the camera.

Another “one-time wonder” for the yard, the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher normally feeds on insects among mesquite and thorn scrub.

            Yesterday’s birds came in at 41 species, including two new ones for the yard: yellow-headed blackbird and black-tailed gnatcatcher.  The half-dozen blackbirds alerted me to their presence by their clack, clacking high in a juniper, although it took a few moments for the sound to register in my brain as “bird.”  The gnatcatcher’s buzzy chchchch, although surprising for this location and elevation, was an accustomed scolding from my years living in the desert west of Tucson.

            The two come in at #150 and #151 for the Pandemic.  And #159 and #160 for the yard’s “life,” all the birds since I started counting on March 1, 2008.

            No new birds for the yard today.  Tomorrow?  Who knows?  Maybe an olive-sided flycatcher or northern parula or even a painted bunting?

Olive-sided Flycatcher, a rare visitor to the yard.

The Northern Parula would be a awesome yard bird—quantum flux at full capacity.

Only once has an immature male Painted Bunting visited the yard—what a treat to one day see an adult male Painted Bunting.

A very dry yard receives the first monsoon storm of 2021.

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