The Big Yard: Notes from a Pajama Birdwatcher

April 30, 2024

As the mercury climbed in April, so too did the number of birds.  I counted an average of 50 species each day.  But this month, the yard hosted a record-breaking 92 species—a first for April of any year since I started keeping track.  (The yard’s monthly all-time high occurred in May of 2021—97 species!)   There was a time at the beginning of this project that I fantasized about seeing 100 different birds in a year.  Now, I believe hitting the century mark could happen in one month.  The Big Yard.  Bring on the hot and dry foresummer of May!

The week’s highlight materialized for a drink at the fountain in the early morning.  Among a mixed flock of seven kinds of warblers—including a Townsend’s and black-throated-gray, three Wilson’s as bright as egg yolks and a pair of spectacle-wearing Virginia’s—a tiny pewter-feathered warbler wearing a black bonnet and grenadine face shimmied down the rock fig to the dark pool.  I snapped dozens of photos.  It had been almost exactly three years since the last red-faced warbler visited the yard.

Here are more highlights to finish off an astonishing month:

#92: Like Red-faced Warblers, Grace’s Warblers breed in high pine forests of Arizona after migrating from central Mexico.

#91: A long-distance migrant, the Swainson’s thrush travels from South America to as far as Alaska each spring.

#90: Warbling Vireos migrate from Mexico to breeding grounds across the US and western Canada.

#89: Another long-distance migrant, the Western Wood-pewee ranges from South America to Alaska.

#88: the Yellow-breasted Chat winters in southern Mexico and summers in most of the US.

#87: The Western Flycatcher (formerly two species of flycatcher, the Cordilleran and Pacific-slope), migrates in the spring from Mexico to the western US and western Canada.

#86: Red-faced Warblers pass through the yard on their way from wintering in central Mexico to breeding in the coniferous forests of Arizona.

#85: Virginia’s Warbler leaves south coastal Mexico in spring for dry, brushy mountainsides across the West.

#84: Migrating from Mexico to breed in the open woods of the western US and northwest Canada, the Western Tanager travels farther north than any other tanager.

Thanks for subscribing! Here’s hoping for 100 species in May—stay tuned!