The Big Yard: Notes from a Pajama Birdwatcher

October 12, Song Sparrow. I suppose it was only a matter of time.

October 18, 2023

The sound of water.  The stench of skunk.  It wafts from the trap through the morning air and clings to my hair and PJs.  The Wife will appreciate that.  And light another scented candle in my honor.  Sparrows skip across the fountain’s rocks toward the wet, black slick, taking turns at the seep.  Their numbers have jumped.  A dozen white-crowns join as many energetic chipping sparrows.  Gray-headed juncos gather with the Oregon, pink-sided, and slate-colored forms, even a rare hybrid: red-backed and gray-headed cross.  A pair of Lincoln’s sparrows skulks through the undergrowth to the little pond.

I pick up my binoculars and examine both birds carefully.  Last week, I almost missed a similar-looking song sparrow, a surprise since I’ve never seen one here before.  The species is probably the most commonly found streaked sparrow of gardens and parks and brushy fields across the US and Canada.  Just not in my yard.  After August’s record flame-colored tanager and September’s Gambel’s quail, the bird comes in at #177 for this amazing place.  Once again, the Big Yard making the ordinary extraordinary.  

One the yard’s winter visitors, a shy Lincoln’s Sparrow at the fountain.

A bicolored upper bill means this Dark-eyed Junco is a cross between the red-backed and gray-headed forms.

Water.  The monsoon left us wanting.  The well pumps less and less and the level in the storage tank slips lower and lower.  We’ll be trucking in water by next week.  We’ve been here before.  Too often. The fountain draws thirsty birds along with the less desirables.  Mice climb the apple tree, skitter across the porch roof to the attic and kitchen and take up housekeeping in the pantry.  The rock squirrels pilfer my tomatoes.  The skunks—I’ve trapped six so far—make nightly forays into the yard from their new den under the house.  Bears strew garbage.  Mountain lions test the chicken coop for weaknesses.  And last week, my trail cam captured the first coyote I’ve seen at this place.

Yesterday, I met with the federal wildlife official who shot and killed our problem bear a few weeks ago.  “It wouldn’t go into the trap,” he told me, explaining the bear preferred garbage like people prefer lobster dinner.  “Instead, it entered four homes, two of them occupied at the time.  It had to be euthanized.”

He had come to “collect” a big striped skunk I caught the night before.  One more he’ll add to his freezer full of skunk heads going to a lab in Phoenix for rabies testing.

“I’ll let you know the results,” he said.  “If they’re positive.”

With the sparrows, several warblers like this Yellow-rumped Warbler and (below) a Townsend’s Warbler, also seek out available water.

This week, a single Cedar Waxwing visited the fountain.

And where water draws birds, birds draw bird predators, like this young Sharp-shinned Hawk that’s recently started perusing the yard.

Thanks for subscribing! More birds to come!