The Big Yard: Notes from a Pajama Birdwatcher

A rare Plain-capped Starthroat visits Madera Canyon this week.

September 20, 2024

I have seen sixteen hummingbird species in my life.  Fifteen of them in Arizona.  Thirteen in my yard in Bisbee.

This week, after a sighting of a new hummingbird (for me) hit the rare bird report, I drove from Bisbee to Sonoita and turned off onto the rugged and gorgeous dirt track that twists though Box Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains until the route spilled me into the mouth of Madera Canyon two hours from my home.  There, at the Santa Rita Lodge, I joined John Schaefer and a crowd of birdwatchers—all of us hoping to see a hummingbird that visits southeast Arizona once a year...maybe. 

The plain-capped starthroat.  Life bird #495 and my 16^th hummingbird.    

After the white-eared hummingbird last month, the starthroat crowned our chase to photograph all of Arizona’s 15 “regular” hummingbirds.  (Yes, records exist for three others, a bumblebee hummingbird from Ramsey Canyon in 1896, a cinnamon hummingbird from Patagonia in 1992, and a handful of ruby-throated hummingbirds, the last from Hassayampa River Preserve in 2018.  It is highly unlikely we’ll see any of these anytime soon, although I’ll be watching!)

Here are my thirteen hummingbirds for the Big Yard:

1. All of the rare Allen’s Hummingbirds I’ve photographed in the yard have been juveniles like this one from 2009.

2. An Anna’s Hummingbird (male). One of the most common hummingbirds in the yard.

3. The first and only—so far!—appearace of a rare Berylline Hummingbird.

4. A Black-chinned Hummingbird (male).

5. A gorgeous male Blue-throated Mountain-gem.

6. One of the more common species, a Broad-billed Hummingbird (male).

7. A male Broad-tailed Hummingbird.

8. The exquisite male Calliope Hummingbird.

9. A male Costa’s Hummingbird.

10. A rare male Lucifer Hummingbird, the birdwatcher’s prize.

11. Rivoli’s Magnificent Hummingbird (male).

12. One of the most energetic of hummingbirds, the Rufous Hummingbird (male).

13. And finally, an awesome Violet-crowned Hummingbird with attitude.

Thanks for reading! More to come as the migration winds down and the yard settles into the winter visitors.