A Northern Jacana in Arizona
(click on photo to enlarge)
It’s been here a while, sequestered on a golf course, since at least early November 2007 nonchalantly going about its business until it finally made the local birding e-mail list. Now, in the interest of being kinder and gentler to Mother Earth, my new birding philosophy is to not chase a rare bird if it’s already on my life list. This one was. So unless I was in the vicinity, I would not waste precious fossil fuel just for the pure enjoyment of seeing a rare bird. As it so happened, I had to drive up to Phoenix this week and the detour to the golf course in Casa Grande was not far from the Interstate. I arrived at the designated spot, walked to where I could see the ponds and after a few moments of searching, there it was. When I saw it approach a Boat-tailed Grackle, I was reminded of exactly how dainty this shorebird is–it was dwarfed by the grackle. Unfortunately this photo does not show the long toes by which this bird is easily able to negotiate over floating vegetation.
Leave a Comment