The Big Yard: Notes from a Pajama Birdwatcher

The only bird named for Arizona.

July 19, 2023

Summer doldrums.  Lows in the mid-60s at sunrise give way to currents of afternoon heat topping out in the high 90s when, if we’re fortunate, blooming thunderheads will pelt the canyon with hard rain.  We’ve been lucky almost every other day since the monsoons started last week.  Two inches of rain and the landscape is already remembering the color green.

The male Arizona woodpecker continues coming for melting suet in the apple tree, about the only bird of interest among the house finches, doves, and cowbirds.  Numbers are down.  Sugar water no longer entices the hummingbirds.  Hooded and Scott’s orioles ignore the offer of oranges and jelly.  The trickle fountain draws only a few lesser goldfinches.

Summer doldrums.  Even for the birds.

To liven up my days (and court heat exhaustion), I’ve turned to projects on the 44-acre extension of the Big Yard.  Like water.  High in an oak-draped, catclaw-tangled side canyon, I found an old hand-dug well that held water at ten feet.  All I needed was a pump, a power source, a holding tank, and a thousand feet of ranch pipe.  Easy.  Visions of apple orchards and vineyards and blackberry thickets danced on my retinas.  I started buying fruit trees and potting berry bushes.

“Perfect,” the wife assured me.  “You’ll be feeding the wildlife for sure.”

The well and some historic workings.

The well after I installed a new pump.

Solar cells and tank for the well. The Game-and-Fish Son-in-Law, who installs these for Arizona wildlife, suggested a company called RPS Solar Pumps “for people who believe in getting the job done themselves, and getting it done right.” Amen.

Maybe the birds will leave enough for one pie.

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