The Big Yard: Birdwatching in a Time of Quarantine

Or: The Evolution of a Pajama Lister

A Pygmy Nuthatch looks out from a ponderosa pine near Flagstaff, Arizona, where it is common and usually found with mixed flocks of songbirds like chickadees, warblers, and kinglets.

Day 481 of the Pandemic (July 12, 2021)

            The wife and I visit the kids and grandkids in Flagstaff for the week.  On mornings before everyone rises for breakfast (a task for father and son-in-law), I sit in the backyard and watch birds.  A pair of red-faced warblers weaves a double helix through chimney-climbing ivy.  A male cordilleran flycatcher calls from the powerline with gaping maw and rising tee-seet...tee-seet.  Raucous Steller’s jays and darling pygmy nuthatches sip water from the trickle fountain.  The yard is alive with early birds that dart about a forest saturated with heady terpenes and the hoarse calls of corvids.

 

The Intermountain “Cordillera” counterpart to the nearly identical Pacific-slope Flycatcher, the Cordilleran Flycatcher is common in coniferous forests like those in northern Arizona.

The Steller’s Jay, common in mature forests from Alaska to Mexico’s Sierra Madre. Note the harsh, unmusical shek, shek, shek call.

          

A Mountain Chickadee, another common year-round resident of pine forests across western US and Canada.

In the afternoon, someone named Thomas Hedwall reports on eBird about sighting a solitary sandpiper at Kachina Wetlands.  With notes and photos.  Solitary sandpiper, a long-legged, long-billed shorebird with a white eye ring, would be a life bird for me. And Kachina Wetlands, where my youngest daughter and I saw our first cackling goose last December, is minutes away from Mountainaire.

             Soon, I walk through yellow clover along the raised berms that separate eight shallow ponds, a constructed “wetland” to deal with the treated effluent from Kachina Village.  Among the reeds and cattails and spindly willows, least and western sandpipers and greater yellowlegs probe the muddy flats.  An osprey circles one pond and then lands near me, granting me a photo opportunity.  I spot bald eagles and Canada geese, but not the target bird.  No sign of the solitary sandpiper.

Western Sandpipers in breeding plumage. A common migrant on mudflats and beaches. Note the dark legs, which distinguishes them from the similar-looking but yellow-legged Least Sandpiper.

A Greater Yellowlegs in breeding plumage. Note the slightly upturned bill that is noticeably longer than the head.

Osprey. Rather long and crooked wings. Note all-dark upperside and white underparts. (Juveniles show a buffy breast that soon fades.) Uncommon, sometimes seen on Arizona lakes and rivers where fish are abundant.

            In an hour, the sky darkens like a bruise.  Thunder shakes the ground.  A siren screams from the Kachina golf course, warning golfers to clear the greens and fairways.  Then I run into the only other birdwatcher I’ve seen today who wants to know if I’ve seen anything interesting.

            “Some shorebirds,” I say.  “Someone posted on eBird about a solitary sandpiper I was hoping to locate.”

            “That was me.” 

We chat.  Exchange sightings.  Watch the sky.  He describes where he saw the sandpiper and where the bird flew off to.  Then he leaves, carrying a tripod and spotting scope, mentioning something about open spaces and lightning.

            On my way back to the car, I think about my efforts to locate a solitary sandpiper and that all I could find is the birdwatcher who posted about seeing the solitary sandpiper.  I consider the futility of chasing birds altogether. I decide to build a website called “eBirder” (something I can do in my PJs!) that reports on local birdwatchers and their whereabouts.  Participants—(listers?)—could add descriptions of their encounters with birdwatchers and include photographs.

Depending on the location, some birdwatchers may be rarities.  Others would be more common and likely seen in most birding hotspots.  “A Kenn Kaufman was spotted in Rucker Canyon in the Chiricahua Mountains...”.  “A David Sibley returned on the 27th to the Sibley Stakeout at Ramsey Canyon!”  Extra bragging points if you get one in alternate plumage. 

Forget the sandpiper.  For me, today’s Thomas Hedwall is a lifer.

Forget the website.  I’ll write and illustrate the Lamberton Guide to Western Birdwatchers with information on habitat and behavior and tips on finding species in the field.

Watch out Roger Tory Peterson.

The Greater Bare-legged Chuck LaRue in nonbreeding plumage. Rather tall and lanky, with or without beagle companion. Note the pale brimmed crest (noticeably larger than head), whitish flanks and coverts, and buffy legs. Uncommon, sometimes seen on San Francisco Peaks above tree line in summer. In winter, found in ponderosa forest pubs, especially where Lumberyard beer is abundant.

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