Where to Begin?
(click on a photo to enlarge)
It’s hard to know where to begin when one hasn’t posted a blog entry for almost two weeks! Especially when there’s a lot to tell. My excuse is that I’d rather be out in the field than sitting at my computer typing at this time of the year.
I haven’t even mentioned that the Gray Hawks were seen back at the Holy Trinity Monastery in St. David on 3/22. They’re back at their old nest in the cottonwood grove doing a bit of refurbishing before egg-laying begins. Gray Hawks are a tropical species found only in southeastern Arizona and the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. They are very handsome hawks and we’re lucky they are fairly common here.
Gray Hawk (Buteo nitidus)
On that same date, we saw our first White-throated Swifts and they were in the sky around our house. They’re fast little devils and very hard to capture in a photo. Swift is a perfect name for them.
White-throated Swift (Aeronautes saxatalis)
A recent highlight at the Monastery has been the discovery of two hummingbird nests. In my many years of birding I’ve found only one other hummingbird nest and that was an Anna’s under construction two years ago at Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson. Never found one in 19 years in Maryland. This year I’ve stumbled upon a Black-chinned hummer busy at nest construction here in the Dragoons; another Black-chinned nest under construction at the Monastery, and a female Broad-billed hummer already sitting on her nest built just a foot away from, presumably, last year’s nest. She must like the spot.
Female Broad-billed Hummingbird (Cynanthus latirostris)
Here on the home front, we discovered our 8th hummingbird species at a feeder on 4/12. A beautiful male Costa’s. Realistically this is probably the last new hummingbird species we can expect. I hope I’m wrong about that though. Can’t have enough hummers!
Male Costa’s Hummingbird (Calypte costae)
As is the pattern for hummingbirds that are just migrating through, the Costa’s stayed just under a week before it moved on.
And finally bringing March to a closure, the last two days of the month found a lone female Lawrence’s Goldfinch at the feeding station. Finding that “odd” goldfinch makes feeder-watching all the more worthwhile.
Female Lawrence’s Goldfinch (Carduelis lawrencei)
April 24th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
I love seeing all your Arizona birds. I’ve been hearing lots of warblers, but seeing very few.