The Big Yard: Notes from a Pajama Birdwatcher

April 1, 2022

March ushered into the Big Yard an astounding 66 species of birds, a dozen more than the March totals of previous years.  (Yes, I was worried about January and February’s missing birds.)  Highlights include Lawrence’s goldfinches, Lucy’s warblers, a Williamson’s sapsucker, and a new record, yard bird #167, a once-in-two-decades brown creeper!

But I think my favorite avian arrival were the elf owls, tiny woodland sprites—the smallest owls in the world—and a regular feature every year that we’ve lived in the Mule Mountains when they return from wintering in the Pacific thorn forests of Mexico.  Last Friday, when I stepped into the backyard as gloaming settled into the canyon, a series of high, sharp pulsing yips announced that a male had once again reclaimed the old woodpecker hole in our power pole.

Soon, his mate will lay 2-4 white eggs and incubate them while he feeds her and, later, their chicks, after the eggs hatch in about three weeks.  The owl family will pass the summer in our canyon, barking from the oaks after sunset, and then head for Mexico in September.

Elf owls are also the wife’s favorite spring migrant—mostly because they arrive at the beginning of another season.  Scorpion season.  Elf owls relish the bark scorpions that emerge on warm evenings and cling to our stone walls, at least those I don’t locate first with my blacklight and walking stick.  Fluoresce and crush.  I like to hunt for them barefoot, which keeps me on my toes.  Fluoresce and crush.  The ants do the rest, carting off the bits and pieces in a long neon-green chain of disassembled arachnid.

The hope is that my and the owl’s efforts keep the joint-legged invertebrates from finding their way inside the house.  Their sting sends the wife to the ER.  Every time.  The last time, we both jumped from the couch after she swung her leg across my chest, feeling the brilliant pain of molten needles rammed into our tenders as we slapped and brushed and shouted.  She got vials of goat-serum antivenin, muscle relaxants, and pain killers.  I got to hold her hand.   

When we returned home at 3 AM, the elf owls were feasting.

Thanks for reading! More to come as the weather warms and the birds migrate!