The Big Yard: Notes from a Pajama Birdwatcher

September 27, 2023

My tango with Covid has concluded.  The planet swings past the equinox and we dip away from sunlight as shadows stretch into fall.  Today, the first hermit thrush of the season measures the change.

The Big Yard has hosted 98 species of birds for September, a new record by two after that astounding September in 2020.  The previous drought year.  The monsoon departs, what there was of it, leaving us with a little more than seven inches of rain, ten inches shy of normal.  The grasses struggled with green this summer; the flowers didn’t bother with color at all.  The landscape is absent of butterflies.

For now, the birds and I settle into the dry, short days and lean toward the coming dance with El Nino.

September highlights:

A first-ever rarity, the Flame-colored Tanager.  After an immature male first arrived in August, this adult male made four appearances in September.

An immature male Rose-breasted Grosbeak came in at #95 for September, a rare bird the yard has seen less than a dozen times in 15 years.

Yesterday, a pair of Band-tailed Pigeons put in a surprise appearance, last seen here in March of 2022.

#94, the Common Yellowthroat (this one a female) has visited the yard only twice before.

Indigo Buntings (all female) logged eight appearances in September, a record.

Swainson’s Thrush, #91, on its way from Alaska to South America, always signals the changing seasons.

Another sign of fall, the Red-naped Sapsucker will spend the winter here.

A nice surprise: Yellow-eyed Juncos haven’t visited the yard since December 2021.

As amazing as the first-ever Gambel’s Quail and Flame-colored Tanagers were in September, the return of the Canyon Wren (after a two-year absence) with its ephemeral liquid trills of all places wild and rugged, marks a bright spot for the month.

Thanks for subscribing! Who knows what birds October will bring to the Big Yard!