Always Something New
(click on a photo to enlarge)
It never fails. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something new shows up. This month it was two new birds for the yard list (which, in just over a year here, is now at 100). On Sunday morning, I glanced out the window near the feeding station and saw a male Lawrence’s Goldfinch (Carduelis lawrencei) perched in a mesquite behind the thistle feeder. It was there for such a fleeting moment (and never returned) that I thought I may have had a hallucination. There have been quite a few reports of Lawrence’s Goldfinches in SEAZ recently and the only place I’ve ever seen them in Cochise County is down in St. David at the Holy Trinity Monastery. So, after my Sunday “hallucination,” I went down to the monastery yesterday morning and came up empty — no goldfinches except a few Lesser and not very good birding of any kind. The field of dry sunflowers which they eagerly fed upon two years ago were not present this year thanks to a terrible monsoon season where very few wildflower seeds germinated and grew to maturity.
This morning I began my usual morning vigil at my “photography window” overlooking the feeding station. I was rewarded with a male and female Lawrence’s Goldfinch. The male was not very cooperative again but the female posed on the fountain birdbath for a few photos. It was overcast and very windy, so I feel lucky to have these photos.
I first spotted the male from a distance.
Lawrence’s Goldfinch (Carduelis lawrencei), male
I zoomed in a little closer but it was just as he bent down to drink!
Then, off he flew. A while later a female landed on the edge of the fountain birdbath (this bird shows quite a lot of yellow but since I see no black on the head, I’m calling it a female) and was much more cooperative.
Lawrence’s Goldfinch (Carduelis lawrencei), female
Lawrence’s Goldfinches are irregularly common winter visitors from the west. Every once in a while (7-8 yrs) they invade in large numbers. Perhaps this is one of those years. If so, I hope to get more and better photos on a nice calm and sunny morning instead of an overcast and blustery one.
The next surprise occurred on 10/15 when I was wrapped up in photographing a Cactus Wren at the birdbath. I almost didn’t notice that right behind it, sitting on a rock partially hidden by the beargrass was a bird I’d not seen here before — a Sage Thrasher (Oreoscoptes maontanus). If ever a thrasher didn’t look like a thrasher, it’s this bird.
What is that bird?
Unlike all of the other thrashers, the Sage Thrasher has a short almost straight bill. The bill size and shape, streaky breast and golden yellow iris give it away. Normal habitat is sagebrush country of which we have little of here so it must just be passing through. At least it got a nice bath and drink before it moved on.
Sage Thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus)
The Sage Thrasher is described as an uncommon to rare transient and winter resident in sparse desert scrub and open juniper woodland, so I feel lucky that it made a stop here.
Birds are not the only surprises we’ve had lately. In the next post you’ll see a four-legged one.
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