The Big Yard: Notes from a Pajama Birdwatcher
May 31, 2025
In the early morning half-light, on the last day of May, I perch on the back porch in one final push to gain 100 species of birds for the month. The effort is futile, I know, with nothing new in days since the red-faced warbler came in at #95.
I check off the usual orioles and tanagers, flycatchers and grosbeaks and warblers. There’s a reason some birds are called “rarities.”
Last year, on this same day, the yard had already hosted 99 species for the month and hope was rising as the sun lifted into the eastern sky. Then, something miraculous. After heading inside for a second cup of coffee and coming back through the door, I spotted a bird with unfamiliar zebra stripes at the fountain pool. Shoot! My camera rested on the table. I crossed the bricks to my chair and lifted the camera as the bird darted into the chokecherry tree. The bird crawled along the trunk of the tree and foraged upside-down for insects as I took photos.
The black-and-white warbler, rare for Arizona and unreported in the Mule Mountains, returned to the fountain to drink and bathe three times over the next 25 minutes. I snapped 120 photographs, a few of them even in focus. May 2024’s 100th species was a new bird for the yard (#177) and a new bird for me, life bird #476.
After three hours, I’m ready to quit at 46 species for the morning, not a record but a solid 95 for the month. Time to get the day started; the wife will be stirring, and she has plans for me, something that involves shoveling and hauling five tons of gravel for landscaping at her new office. Can’t wait.
Then, just as I’m packing up my camera, a vireo flies to the top of the fountain. At first I think the bird is the warbling vireo I’ve seen all morning. But it’s larger, with a longer bill and flat crown. I swing my camera in its direction and peer through the lens. The vireo has red eyes!
A rare, red-eyed vireo. The Big Yard does it again. Yard bird #179 and a new Arizona bird for me.
In my PJs.
Can’t wait to see what June brings. I hope you will join me!
Oh good, that’s him! I can tell by the way he parts his head feathers. I had asked one of our many Red-eyed Vireo neighbors if he ( I know hard to tell) would be so kind as to make a trip to the Lookout. Having just finished honeymooning in the sugar Maples, after a brief courtship filled with aerial displays and tail fanning , it took a lot of convincing. Not very keen on leaving Vermont, you know, with our abundance of water and juicy caterpillars. I promised he would be back in time for an excellent blackberry and elderberry season, at least I hope I’m correct. Told him to look for a guy in his Pjs with a camera hanging from his neck . Number 95, you’re welcome.
Beautiful photos as always, Ken! I'm imagining you have a 'star' each month and the red-eyed vireo HAS to be the one for May, sneaking in at the last minute! Congratulations! Is there a correlation with having 'lucky PJs'
Oohhh each 'star' could make a beautiful 2025 calendar. xo