The Big Yard: Notes from a Pajama Birdwatcher

The brown flycatcher named for the early 19th century explorer and naturalist, Thomas Say.

October 4, 2023

The days of wind and little rain.  Gusting turbulence rattles the metal roof and dead tree litter and lifts spore-laden dust to coat corneas and sinuses.

Red flags and red eyes. 

I re-bag the trash after a spill, not sure if the culprit is the wind or the bear.  Recently, Bisbee police officers shot and killed a bear after it had entered two homes in search of food and confronted the startled owners.  My neighbors and I have been bringing in our bird feeders after we watched the big guy pulling them down.  I caught him on my trail cam in August, but it’s been quiet around here lately.

The skunks don’t seem to care about the wind, sending their anal secretions on currents of air and through every open window while digging plugs out of my lawn to hoover up worms and grubs.  I’ve trapped four so far, rehoming them at the river and wondering if I’ll break the last drought’s skunk record of 41.

Today, something unexpected (if anything can be unexpected in this yard): A Say’s phoebe alights at the top of an Arizona walnut and then swoops after insects across my neighbor’s field of sideoats grama and sunflowers.  I’ve seen the species here only twice before, both times in the fall of 2021.  The phoebe is an adaptable flycatcher, attracted to deserts and grasslands, woodlands and rural farmlands, even schoolyards and urban parks, making it one of the most widespread of flycatchers in Arizona...just not in my yard.

Say’s phoebe. Yard bird #69 for the month so far, after another surprise visit from a Gila woodpecker (#68), only the second Gila woodpecker ever, after one of these low-desert lovers of saguaros and cottonwoods adopted the yard for ten months in 2020-21.

What else might October bring out of the blue-gray hue?

A female Gila Woodpecker from the desk window. This one makes six woodpeckers for the October yard.

This Painted Redstart currently favors the spring on the new property, where I find it each morning while planting my orchard of apple, cherry, and peach trees.

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