The Big Yard: Notes from a Pajama Birdwatcher

A “rare” Green-tailed Towhee of June. The winter visitor should be long gone by now to breeding grounds across the upper western US.

June 10, 2025

The heat descends after sunrise, its weighted light pounding the landscape and drawing sweat from my eyeballs. The June doldrums. High pressure, three-percent humidity, cracked skin. This is no pajama weather.

The month started out miraculously. Lightning and rain. Thunder to wake the toads. I measured a glorious .84 inches in the gauge on that first morning—more rain overnight than we’ve seen in eight months, total. All courtesy of leftovers from Tropical Storm Alvin. I love leftovers.

That first morning, three Mexican spadefoots, cued to the deep sonic vibrations, stared at me through the glass of the wood frog vivarium, all bug-eyed and hungry after the long underground sleep since last summer. (The wood frogs never sleep, not since they arrived from Georgia as tadpoles in 2021—see my pervious posts. Their songs in the evenings always make me smile.) Two summers ago, a dozen or so spadefoots arrived as tadpoles my grandkids Gia and Zion had netted for me from shrinking roadside forest puddles in Flagstaff.

The spadefoots spoke to me with repeated, two-syllabic words: Crick-ets?...crick-ets?...crick-ets?

I rained the insects on the amphibians like manna from heaven.

Mexican spadefoots awakened by thunder.

Toadlets from two summers ago.

Wood Frogs have the amazing ability to survive freezing due glucose in their blood.

In a perfect picture of summer, Granddaughter Giavanna “rescuing” tadpoles.

June doldrums, yes. But the oppressive heat also draws out thirsty birds. Seventy-two species came to the fountain in the first days of June, including a towhee and kinglet and four warblers that should be far north of us by now. Migration is done—or so I thought. But a few, now “rare” birds remain, seemingly reluctant to make the long flight.

Unheard of in June in southeast Arizona, Hermit Warblers, like this female, breed during summer in the Pacific Northwest.

Townsend’s Warblers migrate all the way to British Columbia and Alaska to summer breeding grounds.

Wilson’s Warblers spend summers in northern Canada and Alaska with Orange-crowned Warblers (below), which also prefer the West Coast.

The heat also reminds me that the monsoons are coming. I’ll be holing up in anticipation with the birds that don’t migrate.

This resident whiskered Screech-owl decided that one of the “Elf Owl” boxes would serve him just fine.

End note. I had intended to write the post last weekend, but the wife had other plans for me, which, this time, did not involve shoveling tons of rock, fortunately. She’s organizing an event this fall with state-wide transportation professionals she apparently wants to impress. So, we spent two days visiting tasting rooms in Elgin and Sonoita and Willcox (and checking out the local birding hotspots in places like Patagonia). My wife brought me along because she doesn’t drink wine—she only likes the idea of wine. She said she wanted to find the best vintages southeast Arizona had to offer. I said I’d be the good husband and make the sacrifice to help her out.

A few of “our” selections.

Thanks for supporting the Big Yard! The 15th of June begins our official monsoon season, with or without the thunderstorms. Here’s hoping for an early start!