The Big Yard: Birdwatching in a Time of Quarantine

Or: The Evolution of a Pajama Lister

An expected visitor to the yard May through September, when it can range from Mexico to Alaska, this Western Wood-pewee finally put in an appearance.

Day 519 of the Pandemic (August 19, 2021)

            With yesterday’s first-of-the-season western wood-pewee and northern flicker, my yard (at 78 species so far this month) stands at #4 in the country, according to eBird.  The highest it’s ever been.  And this doesn’t take into account last night’s elf owls (2), which I haven’t noted since the start of the monsoon. 

Merlin Sound ID picked up the elf owls, and then I heard their chattering from the giant Emory oak.  A legitimate sighting, based on the rules I’ve established for myself when I use the app.  No life birds, and no new yard birds by Merlin alone, which makes mistakes.  Somehow, as much as I’d like to see them, I doubt there’s a green kingfisher or solitary sandpiper in my yard.  Although Banning Creek (a bright slash of sand) does bisect it.

Northern Flickers (this is the red-shafted form) are common year-round in Arizona but only visit the yard through the winter months.

           

Elf Owls arrive from Mexico in early April to nest in the woodpecker cavity in our power pole and will remain through August.

A female lesser goldfinch comes to the clothesline to collect the washed dryer lint I’ve clipped there.  She works the clothespin furiously, twisting her head to extract each strand of fiber and pack them into her bill.  She’s constructing a nest nearby, and this late in the year she must be on her second or third brood.

            Of the three goldfinches that visit the yard—American, Lawrence’s, and lesser—this one is by far the most common.  But just because the goldfinch is an everyday bird is no reason to dismiss it.  Calling any bird “lesser” feels wrong.  Lesser than what?  Another “prettier” goldfinch like the larger, more vibrant American?  Seems just as insulting as demoting a member of our solar system to the status of “dwarf planet” and kicking it out of the science books.

            The goldfinch’s mate arrives, and follows her back and forth as she gathers the soft nest lining.  His black cap in the morning light looks like a hole in his head.  He perches at the fountain a few feet away and watches her. 

But he never lifts a beak.

Female Lesser Goldfinches select nesting sites and construct nests without the assistance of the male—even if the male happens to die inside the nest, she will remove his carcass and continue construction.

The male Lesser Goldfinch, alive and well…for now.

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